Many electronic devices communicate wirelessly with other devices or a network controller of a wireless network though which various resources are available, such as the Internet. Typically, amounts of data communicated by different devices through the wireless network vary based on content accessed by a device, services provided by the device, user-related activity on the device, and the like. To manage access of the wireless network, the network controller allocates respective portions of physical resources to each device by which the device accesses the wireless network and the resources thereof. For a device that communicate large amounts of data (e.g., multimedia streaming), the network controller may assign large portions of bandwidth or multiple portions of bandwidth to support data rates sufficient to communicate all of this data.
Supporting wireless communication over large portions of bandwidth or multiple portions of bandwidth, however, typically requires that a network controller include complex radio module and associated circuitry. For example, some network controllers include a radio module capable of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication in which multiple streams of information are transmitted to or received from another device. To achieve maximum data rates, each stream of MIMO communication requires that the network controller also include a dedicated power amplifier to amplify signals for transmission and a low-noise amplifier to amplify received signals, both of which increase complexity, power consumption, and cost of the network controller. Few devices of a wireless network, however, actually communicate at or near these maximum data rates, so many users may not benefit from the increased complexity, power consumption, or cost of the network controller's MIMO radio module and associated circuitry. Additionally, some network controllers may have form factor or cost limitations that preclude the use of multiple dedicated antennas for each stream of MIMO communication, resulting in underutilization of capabilities of an expensive full-featured MIMO radio module.